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Monday, July 13, 2015

Summer Essentials Series: Week 1

Welcome to the first week of my Summer Essentials Series! I am so glad that you are here following along. Each week on Monday, for the next eight weeks I will be sharing with you my favorite summer essentials.

1. VERSE: I want to start you off with a verse that has had such an impact on me especially within the last week. It's Psalm 116:2 and it reads, 'Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath'. I remember seeing this verse some time ago and while every scripture holds great value, it didn't really speak to me at the time. I came across it a few weeks ago again, when I was reading, Praying for Boys by Brooke McGlothlin. It is such a wonderful book. I will talk more about it below in number 4. She is one of my favorite bloggers that I want to share with you. I can't explain how much of an impact this verse had on me this time around. Maybe because I am in the midst of a lot of things, both great and tough, and I am praying constantly throughout the day. This gives me such great encouragement during these times to know that whenever I am praying, He is always there bending down to listen. Below is an art print that I created for you to download with this verse. Print it out and hang it somewhere as a reminder that He is always there listening when we pray!

2. WORD: So, I thought this would be a fun thing to add to my list of summer essentials. Obviously the words you use in your vocabulary are not essential to enjoying your summer, although watching what you say can be important at times, lol. These words or phrases are more just for fun. My first word or phrase that I want to share is, "On Fleek" which refers to something or someone who is on point. This could be an outfit, a style, someones game, etc. You get the idea. I first heard this phrase from a good friend and I laughed. How does a phrase like this actually start and catch on. For some reason, I just sound silly saying it, maybe because I am not cool enough to use the phrase, or maybe just because it's not an actual word in the dictionary. Who knows? Just for fun lets start adding it to our vocabulary and lets see if we make someone else laugh.

3. RECIPE: This weeks recipe is something that I make for lunch, because its super easy. They are veggie quesadillas. You can make this for dinner as well, but it is meatless so you may want to add something to it. This meal is the perfect summer meal! I usually try to buy locally so everything is super fresh. You can fry the veggies in the pan with a little salt, pepper, and EVOO, or you can cook them on the grill. This may require a little more work though. I use soft corn tortillas and a light Mexican blend cheese. After you saute the veggies, place two corn tortillas in a pan to warm. Place the veggies on one of the tortilas, add some cheese, and the place the other tortilla on top for a minute or two. Serve immediately and enjoy! I wish I had a photo for you, but I remembered the last time after I had already finished the quesadillas!!

4. BLOGGER: My featured blogger of this week is Brooke McGlothlin from The MOB Society blog. Brooke is such a wonderful writer and her posts are so encouraging. Her blog is all about helping moms raise their boys to become godly men. She is the author of Praying for Boys, which I am in the middle of reading right now. Both her blog and her book have been such an inspiration to me. One thing that is so important to me is how I raise my son. I want to do my best to discipline him and teach him what the word of God says about being a follower of Christ. This isn't the easiest thing, but I am so thankful to have found Brooke, because she has been such a valuable resource for me when it comes to this area of my life. She admits that she is human just like the rest of us and doesn't claim to know it all. She chooses to share her gift of prayer and knowledge of scripture with us boy moms, in hopes that we are able to do the same for our boys. Thank you Brooke!!

5. CLOTHING ITEM: One of the most essential summer clothing items, in my opinion, is a swimsuit cover up. They are a must! I spend a lot of time out side in the pool with my son, and take a lot of day trips to the beach, so I need something to wear over top of my bathing suit when I am not actually in the water. It so easy to slip on a cover up and move about the rest of your day without having to worry about changing in and out of your bathing suit. I purchased one back in April because we had a destination wedding to go to in May. I absolutely love it! I wear it all the time now around the house when I am not outside in the pool. It's super comfy and very stylish. I purchased mine from a small online boutique, but you can find them basically anywhere. It just depends on what you are look for.

6. NEW USES FOR OLD THINGS: I am always looking for ways to recycle things. Not everything, but anything that has potential to be used for another purpose. I see lots of really great ideas on Pinterest for upcycling old things into new things. One thing that I did see, was people were reusing glass candle jars as containers for other items and that gave me an idea. I made myself a nightstand box. All you need is a round plastic lotion container with a lid that you have used all the lotion from (see the pictures below). I got mine from Trader Joe's but Victoria Secret has them too. I think they are actually used for body butter and not lotion. All you have to do is clean them out, remove all the stickers from the outside, and then decorate them however you like. I have it sitting on my nightstand with my earbuds, chapstick, and Ibuprofen in there. Sometimes I take my earrings off before bed and place them in their too, so I don't loose them. You can use yours for whatever you like, but I really needed something for all of my stuff that I would just throw on there.